Suriname’s chaotic democracy just chose its first woman president
An oil windfall may make it harder for Jennifer Geerlings-Simons to clean up the country
His finger ink-stained from voting, Wagirin Tjokrosetiko, a 62-year-old driver of Javanese descent, has a simple reason for wanting a woman to run Suriname, a multi-ethnic former Dutch colony of under 700,000 people on the north-eastern shoulder of South America. “Male presidents only fill their pockets,” he says.
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This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Multi-ethnic, mega-corrupt”
From the June 7th 2025 edition
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